Can You Make a 4 Leaf Clover?

Hi Guys,

Well, today's conversation in the car on the way home was very interesting...

Venice asked if it was easy to find 4 leaf clovers - simple enuff question, right...? - Casey didn't know - I said that clover leaf patterns came usually in 3 petals, and that occasionally one comes with 4 petals - 3 was the "normal" pattern, and 4 petals was more rare....Oh...

Casey asked if you could alter the DNA of the 3 petal clover to make a 4 leaf clover so it was more available - I said I thot so - then, would it be the normal clover...? - I said I didn't know...

Casey = could you change the DNA to give a turtle the legs of a heron...?!! - Hmmm, WOW...! - Where did that one come from...? I said I don't know, but I don't think so....why not...? - Hmmm - well, for one thing the legs of a heron would probably not support the weight of a turtle, so it's survival wouldn't be assured....why not...? - I said the way evolution works is that a creature adapts to its environment, and the ones that survive are the ones that make changes that suit it best to survive, and a turtle with the thin legs of a heron would have trouble supporting the weight of its shell - if it had difficulty walking, it would be susceptible to predators....also, I said I think that some changes or adaptations aren't likely to allow the creature to survive, because the changes don't give it enuff of an advantage against its environment and predators....

Casey = well could you give a turtle the legs of an elephant...? - Hmmm - well, those legs would certainly be strong enuff to support the weight of a turtle - but, again, I'm not sure that a turtle with the legs of an elephant would survive, again for the same reasons I said before - the legs would be more than enuff to support the weight of the shell, but because they would be so huge in relation to the rest of the turtle, that adaptation would work against the turtle's surviva....

Venice = could you change the DNA so butterfly wings would grow on an elephant...? - I don't think so....Why not...? - well, I don't think that DNA can be used across different species - and, even if it could, wings on an elephant wouldn't be an adaptation that would serve an elephant....Venice = well, what about butterfly wings on a human...? - I don't think it would work scientifically - and, even if it did, the wings of a butterfly would be so flimsy that it wouldn't work to help a human fly....Casey = yeah, the weight would be too much...

Jiichan = Venice you sound like you're interested in science - do you think you would ever become a scientist...? - No, I'm not interested in becoming a scientist....I want to become a dancer, then a dance teacher, then a - and she listed a half dozen professions....Casey said he might consider becoming a scientist...

Casey = science is getting so that people will soon live to be 120 years old....Venice = You and I will probably live to be 110 years old - and Jiichan will live to be 120 years old - It's more likely that you'll live longer than I will...

Jiichan = How did we get on this subject...? - Venice = it's my fault, I asked about making a 4 leaf clover out of a 3 leaf clover...! - Jiichan = no, it's not your fault - there's nothing wrong about your question, it was a very good question....Do you know what the stupidest question is...? - Venice and Casey = No, what...? - Jiichan = It's a question that you don't ask....Venice = but what's the question...? - I don't understand....I couldn't explain it - it was too esoteric...

Jiichan...